Konohagakure, The Land of Fire

A nine year old Uzumaki Naruto walked back home, baby sister in hand. She was being carried in his arms, vertically cradled and leaning on his shoulder. Narumi-chan was dead tired—after all, she had just spent the entire day playing with her new friend.

Flashback no Jutsu!

Naruto walked down the streets of Konoha, carrying his baby sister on his shoulders. He was going in the direction of the Uchiha Clan Compound. Naruto wanted to take some time out of his stuffed schedule in order to introduce his little, angelic sibling to Itachi's almost-as-cute little brother. They were quite lucky, neither Itachi nor Naruto had a thing to do on this wonderful da—other than spending time with their cutest family members, of course—so they had spontaneously made a decision to meet at Itachi's home.

Ah! There were the gates. Those huge, dark, menacing gates which seemed to be terrifying his precious Princess. He felt her trembling a little, clutching at his hair just a bit harder than usual. He suddenly swung her off his neck and into his waiting arms, catching her off guard and causing her to laugh in the impishly baby way that was just so Narumi-chan. Her bright, not-so-filled-with-fear-anymore, blue eyes twinkled at him from her cherubesque expression. She was adorned with an orange one piece outfit, something that he had realized quite early in was her most loved color.

Free of her burdening fear, she looked around curiously from the safety of her big brother's arms, still lightly giggling from the short joyride. Her face turned serious though, as soon as she saw the gates.

Well, as serious as a one year old Narumi-chan's face could get. So, not very serious, but rather cute one would say.

She pointed forward, like a general commanding their army to march forward. Then she fell backwards into Nii-chan's chest, hysterically laughing and shrieking in that baby way that was so predominantly prevalent in baldish humans younger than a full year. Naruto pulled her even closer, and with a blinding grin, marched forward.

Later, once getting past all the guards and security, they had finally reached the doorway of the Clan Head House. He had rapped on the mahogany door gently, only moments before, and now, it was open. As expected, Mikoto-obaa had opened it and was already halfway into his personal space to give him a bone crunching hug. She had suddenly realized that he had a mini-passenger, so—smartly—she toned down the hug strength.

"Oh, Naru-chan! You're here, and with a little surprise as well! Wow, she's grown so big! Come inside, Naru-chan. I want you and little Narumi-chan to see our Sasu-chan. The last time you saw was probably...what? Six months ago? He's grown so big! You'll love him!"

And they went along, traversing the house—all the while Mikoto-obaa talked his ear off. Just like how she always did. Lovingly, he hoped she would never change. Her enthusiasm was quite the counter-balance to her stick-in-the-mud husband, Uchiha Fugaku.

Lost in his trance, he did not realize just how far they had walked in this mansion that Itachi called home. They had arrived at their "destination"—the playroom. Itachi sat on the floor, calm, cross-legged, and almost-apathetic as usual. His little brother, on the other had, appeared to be fueled by an energy source as powerful as the sun, almost-running around the room with fiery intensity. Expected, Sasu-chan was half a year older than his baby sister. Of course, Naruto did not expect the level of pure, unadulterated determination erupting from his eyes.

It seemed that he was looking for something, once Naruto took a little bit closer of a glance at the situation. A toy, perhaps?

Itachi looked up from his sitting position, and gave a small smile to Naruto and his baby sister.

"Welcome, Naruto-kun. We are glad that you and your sibling could make it. As you can see, Sasu-chan, by the looks of the situation, has seemed to have misplaced an object."

Suddenly, Sasuke looked up from the space where he was pulling plastic balls out from, and stared directly at his brother. Belatedly, he had come to the realization that there were some other people inside the room. He toddled over, meekly hiding behind his beloved Nii-Chan. Anika would protect him from anything, and if these intruders attacked, Aniki would make sure he was safe.

Surprised by the sudden shy vibe emanating off the little child, Naruto chuckled a little. It caused everyone to laugh, even his baby sister. After their small and sudden laugh session, Mikoto told all the people in the room that she would be back with some lemonade in a few moments. Naruto then realized that they haven't even introduced themselves to Sasuke-chan, and began to amend their mistake.

He walked over to Itachi and sat down, Narumi still being carried in his arms. Sasuke, at first, seemed a bit skittish, but Naruto assures then that they were good guys too, He went on to introduce himself, saying that he was an old friend of Itachi's. Then, he introduced his baby sister.

"Sasu-chan—this is my little sister, Narumi-chan. You can be best friends, if you want."

There. That small spark had been reignited, and his flaming determination to find something was there again. In a moment, he had reached over to Narumi and was already staring deeply into her gaze. In the high pitch of his tone that was usually considered babyish, he spoke fracturedley, There was not even an ounce of that meekness to be seen now.

"Narumi? Chan? Me-you be fwens? Bestest fwens?"

Solemnly, as it understanding what he was saying, she nodded. Then, the strange atmosphere that had descended upon them dissipated, and Sasuke knew what to do. It was, after all, what he did best. That's what Aniki said, after all.

He leaned in clumsily, arms wide. He embraced his new bestest friend, and both of their grins became blinding. Of course, Naruto became a part of this transforming hug. He was the closest to the transpiration center of the event, after all. Sasuke—little puppy dog eyed Sasuke with short stubby legs and short stubby arms, whose face looked like cuteness incarnate—looked back at his Aniki, motioning for him to come and join the hug. He pushed his lower lip out, getting ready for it to wobble just incase it was needed. Fortunately, Itachi soared himself The Look by giving into the warm, group embrace rather quickly. Ah, well. It seemed like Sasuke-chan and Narumi-chan's combined adorable level was just unbearable and unstoppable. Dynamic duo indeed.

Mikoto walked in right at that moment. She did not need to be coaxed or even motioned, and she freely gave herself up to the cuddle gods. She quickly and unsteadily put the lemonade tray down, and rushed to the pile of ratiolently equivalent babies to older children. Waveringly, she scooped all of them into her much larger embrace, and tried not to cry. In a shaking voice, she said:

"Oh, my babies! I love all four of you. Let's stay like this forever, okay?"

Uchiha Fugaku bustled through the hall, where he suddenly heard the voice of his wife wavering as she spoke. Through the screens of the room, he could tell there was a pile of what seemed to be children, and a larger figure encircling them all.

A rare smile slipped on to his face. 'Yes...this is my family.'

Flashback: Kai!

It was later in the day now, and Naruto and sibling were still walking back home after leaving the Uchiha Compound stuffed to the brim.

He pondered among his thoughts. How much more time would he have to spend with his baby sister? On these types of days? Before he got promoted to Jonin? Well, he would definitely still have time then… but what if, later on, he died? Then… he would be leaving his baby sister all alone to this cruel dark world. She was becoming spoiled, many people said. She would never survive in the field, they added. He always retorted with one statement. "She's my Princess. She won't have to even try to survive— because I'll always protect her!"

A glint of steel, similar in nature to the flames which had appeared in the determined eyes of Sasuke, entered into Naruto's.

No. He would stay alive. He would find a way. To protect his angelic sister, he would become the strongest. He would keep his Princess safe.

Sorry guys, I feel like some of this chapter doesn't fit the vibe of the story. Like, the last part was darkish for sure… I might have to go back and change that. What do you guys think?

It didn't have too much fluff, but that is because one of the major fluff parts I had to remove, yaknow? Like it would have been overload, I believe. It's been moved to the next chapter. Get hyped, you guys might not guess what it is. (Hint: it is something to do with her age)

Sorry about Mikoto's dialogue. I had not idea what to say.

Expect a chapter on Wednesday night probably.

Sorry bout the spelling errors.

Reviews:

ReyneWriter-I'll definitely keep going! Thanks!

deafox-Thanks for the support, man!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? You know where to put 'em!

SSJViper, signing out.